Metallic bunker construction



Oct. 30, 1962' A. HOYDEN METALLIC BUNKER CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 25, 1960 IN V EN TOR 4004 F fiaraav Oct. 30, 1962 A. HOYDEN METALLIC BUNKER CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 25, 1960 INVENTOR. 4 04/ floyagv United States Patent ()fifice 3,061,274 Patented Oct. 30, 1962 3,061,274 METALLIC BUNKER CONSTRUCTION Adolf Hoyden, Oberhausen-Sterkrade, Germany, assignor to Gutehotfnungshiitte Sterkrade Aktiengesellschaft,

Oberhausen-Sterkrade, Germany Filed Jan. 25, 1960, Ser. No. 4,519 Claims priority, application Germany Jan. 31, 1959 4 Claims. (Cl. 257208) The present invention relates, generally, to improvements in or relating to bunkers and, particularly, to Wear resistant heat insulation means therefor.

In metallurgical plants bunkers are required to receive hot fill materials, such as, for example, sinter having temperatures of about 300 C. It is desirable to store the sinter, arriving from the sintering plant in its uncooled condition before further use thereof, so that the sinter heat, except for unavoidable losses, can be utilized as far as possible to heat the blast furnace.

These bunkers are frequently located in mining districts where settling and displacement of earth or ground sections occur.

Bunkers for the above mentioned purpose must, trier-efore, be constituted so as to absorb the expansion of its metallic parts due to heat. In addition, they must have a suitable support in view of possible earth movement. Steel bunkers are more suitable for this purpose than concrete bunkers. Barrel-type steel bunkers are known wherein their rounded walls are adapted to absorb expansion due to heat. In such bunkers discharge of the fill into buckets is effected by means of mechanically actuated flaps.

The furnace of a metallurgical plant is generally charged by means of load cars or charging wagons. The principal advantage of such a charging arrangement, apart from the creation of a relatively minor amount of dust, resides in the applicability hereto of an automatic hydraulic control for the discharge of the fill which simultaneously weighs the fill material. Bunkers in barrel form or having other types of rounded walls are unsuitable for this purpose.

Therefore, a different bunker form-has been developed for such use. In the new type of bunker, provision is made for pairs of opposing pockets having side walls, the lower parts of which are inclined toward the center of the bunker in the manner of an inclined bottom for the bunker and which define, with the forked bottom part of the center partition of the bunker, two outlets which are opened by the hauling cars or charging wagons and are then automatically closed again upon movement of the cars away from the bunker.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide means instrumental in constructing highly economical and efficacious bunkers for operation by means of hauling or charging cars which were heretofore used only for fill material of normal temperatures, such as ore, coke etc., which materials were devoid of heat and did not causebunker expansion, said bunkers now being suitable also for handling uncooled sinter whose temperature amounts to about 300 C.

According to the invention, provision is made for an inner lining of metal plates which have a predetermined distance or are equally spaced from the bunker walls and, pursuant to another object of the invention, such plates are disposed to be freely expandable and to form an overlap from the top to the bottom thereof in the manner of roof tiles or fish scales.

In this connection, the wear plates of the bunker, in the same manner as the plates which constitute the bunker construction proper, form completely closed walls, and the space between these Walls is filled to at least a part of its depth with insulation material, and pursuant to a further object of the invention, serves as an air duct which is provided with inlet ports at the lower end thereof and outlet ports at the upper end thereof.

The wear plates are preferably mounted, at the upper ends thereof, as spacers forming T-sections, and each one overlaps the lower wear plate at the lower end thereof,

resting freely and being secured against detachment by clamping elements. In addition, the insulating material on the inside of the bunker walls is covered on the air duct side thereof by means of small connecting elements, for example, angles which are secured on the same spacers. In order to produce a heat-conducting air flow in the air ducts, corresponding openings for the entrance and exit of the air are preferably provided in the region of the lower bunker locks and on the upper bunker edge.

It is another very important object of the present invention to provide means conducive to a very effective, reinforced and durable bunker construction which, on one hand, permits easy transformation of existing bunkers in a highly economical manner to bunkers embodying essential characteristics of the invention and, on the other hand, do not inordinately influence the operational capacity of known bunkers which, however, are considerably improved and may become usable for sinter charges of elevated temperatures.

The aforesaid objects, advantages and aims of the invention are brought about and others ensue further from the following detailed description of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings which illustrate the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a bunker pursuant to the present invention, provision being incorporated to automatically charge load cars or wagons for fill material.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view through a wear plate wall arrangement employable in the invention.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of the Wear plate wall arrangement for a bunker according to the invention.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, FIG. 1 shows in a cross section a bunker 30 having provision for the automatic loading of charging wagons or load cars; such a car 1 together with its superstructure being indicated in outline by dot and dashed lines. It will be understood that the car 1, per se, may be of conventional construction.

Of the the two parallel vertical side walls 2a2b of the bunker, the wall 2a is mounted directly on bearing bodies or base supports 4 which are anchored in the ground. The other wall 212 is mounted on hinged supports 3 which, in turn, are mounted on the base supports 4. The lower extension of each of these side walls is formed by an inclined bottom Wall 5. In the longitudinal center plane of the bunker there is disposed a vertical partition 6 which is provided with a lower forked part or bifurcation 6'. The bifurcation 6' defines a cavity 31 adapted to receive the conventional superstructure of the discharge carriages or load cars 1. The bifurcation 6' together with the inclined walls 5 define discharge or outlet ports 7 for the bunker compartments 32 and 33 at both sides of the partition 6, said compartments being generally subdivided by partitions (not illustrated) into several pockets.

The locking covers or caps 8 for the outlet ports 7 (indicated by dot and dashed lines) are automatically operated in known manner by the superstructure of the burden carriages or load cars, and the weight of the discharged fill material is automatically registered during the loading operation. The filling or charge of the bunker pockets 32 and 33, which are open at the tops thereof, is

over tracks 10 laid over crossbeams 9 at the top of the bunker.

The conventional wear plate lining 11 (shown on the left in FIG. 1) can only be used for fill material having normal outside temperatures, due to the lack of expansibility of the individual wear plates and their heat insulation with regard to the bunker walls 2a, 2b, 5 and partitions 6, 6', which also consist of plates. The new plate lining 12 pursuant to the present invention is shown on the right side of FIG. 1, and details thereof, on an enlarged scale, are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

These lining constituting plates may be made of steel or heavy hematite iron or like material for handling sinter and coke, respectively.

The wear plates 12 are mounted in spaced relation to the bunker walls by spacer means 13. More specifically, the plates 12 are mounted, detachably and expansibly, on spacers 13, at their upper ends only by means of small angle irons 14. The lower end 12a of each plate 12 overlaps the upper end 12b of the next lower wear plate, resting freely thereon. Care has been taken, by means of small clasps 15 reaching under the upper end 12b of the lower wear plate, that the freely resting lower end of the upper wear plate cannot detach itself from the lower wear plate.

The spacers 13, formed as T-sections, also mount smaller angle irons 16, which serve to fasten a thin plate 17. The plate 17 serves as a partition to divide the space between the bunker walls and the wear plates into two parallel compartments 19a and 19b, of equal width, which extend in parallel relation over the entire area of the wear plate lining. Compartment 1% is filled with an insulating material 18, for example, glass wool or asbestos while the other compartment 19a functions as an air duct. The air ducts 19a are provided with air inlet ports or openings 20 for admission of the air at the lower ends of both the inclined bottom walls 5 and the forked partitions or bifurcations 6', so that the air rises from the wear plates 12, due to the absorption of the heat thereby from the hot fill, and the air can issue or be discharged at the upper edge of the bunker through the air outlet openings 21.

Various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and it is intended that such obvious changes and modifications be embraced by the annexed claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a metallic bunker construction for use in mining plants, the combination of downwardly conversing outer walls defining the shape of said bunker, with inner wall forming plate sections arranged in roof-tile overlap fashion to each other and disposed in spaced relation to and anchored on said outer walls, means on each plate section engageable around the end of the adjacent underlying plate section permitting movement of the end of the underlying plate section due to temperature changes, said last-named means being located at laterally spaced locations along the lengths of said plate sections, means spacing said inner wall forming plate sections from and conformed to the shape of said outer walls, said spacing means including further means dividing the space between said outer walls and said inner wall forming plate sections into a plurality of duct means extending lengthwise of the outer walls and arranged in superposed position to each other, one of said duct means neighboring said outer walls being filled with heat insulating material, the other duct means directing the passage of a cooling fluid therealong.

2. In a metallic bunker construction for use in mining plants, the combination of downwardly converging outer walls defining the shape of said bunker, with inner wall forming plate sections arranged in roof-tile overlap fashion to each other and disposed in spaced relation to and anchored on said outer walls, means on each plate section engageable around the end of the adjacent underlying plate section permitting movement of the end of the underlying plate section due to temperature changes, said last-named means being located at laterally spaced locations along the lengths of said plate sections, and means spacing said inner wall forming plate sections from and conformed to the shape of said outer walls, said spacing means including further means dividing the space between said outer walls and said inner wall forming plate sections into a plurality of duct means extending lengthwise of the outer walls and arranged in superposed position to each other, one of said duct means neighboring said outer walls being filled with heat insulating material, the other duct means directing the passage of a cooling fluid therealong, and means for retaining fill material within the interior of said bunker and for causing discharge from the latter along the surfaces of said plate sections.

3. A bunker wall construction comprising an outer wall, a plurality of spacer elements arranged in spaced rows and connected to the interior face of said outer wall and extending inwardly therefrom, a plurality of wear plates secured at their upper ends to respective spacer elements at a spaced location from the interior face of said outer wall and disposed over the next adjacent wear plate at its lower end and being substantially parallel to said outer wall, means on each plate section engageable around the end of the adjacent underlying plate section permitting movement of the end of the underlying plate section due to temperature changes, said last-named means being located at laterally spaced locations along the length of said plate sections, partition plate means disposed between said outer wall and said wear plate and dividing the space therebetween into an insulation compartment and a fluid flow compartment adjacent said wear plates, and inlet and outlet means adjacent the lower and upper ends of said bunker walls for facilitating fluid flow through said fluid flow compartment.

4. A bunker wall construction comprising an outer wall, a plurality of spacer elements arranged in spaced rows and connected to the interior face of said outer wall and extending inwardly therefrom, a plurality of wear plates secured at their upper ends to respective spacer elements at a spaced location from the interior face of said outer wall and disposed over the next adjacent wear plate at its lower end and being substantially parallel to said outer wall, partition plate means disposed between said outer wall and said wear plate and dividing the space therebetween into an insulation compartment and a fluid flow compartment adjacent said wear plates, inlet and outlet means adjacent the lower and upper ends of said bunker walls for facilitating fluid flow through said fluid flow compartment, said outer Wall including downwardly inclined wall portions converging to a central mouth opening, and an interior wall defined in said bunker extending substantially vertically in the center thereof and having bifurcated end portions adjacent said mouth, additional wear plates mounted on the partition wall at spaced locations therefrom to define a fluid flow chamber between said partition wall and said wear plate, and inlet and outlet means at the lower and upper portions of said partition wall, respectively, for directing cooling fluid therethrough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,164,152 Wolf Dec. 14, 1915 1,465,745 Strong Aug. 21, 1923 2,238,200 Willeke Apr. 15, 1941 2,348,754 Ray May 16, 1944 2,794,561 Brahmsiepe June 4, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 495,491 Great Britain Nov. 15, 1938 

